Madonna Badger, whose three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011, told Vogue magazine she will remarry in September. Here she poses for a photo on the front porch of P. Allen Smith's home in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. less

Madonna Badger, whose three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011, told Vogue magazine she will remarry in September. Here she poses for a photo on the front ... more

Madonna Badger, whose three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011, told Vogue magazine she will remarry in September. Here, she says hello to "Moose," a mule on P. Allen Smith's farm in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. less

Madonna Badger, whose three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011, told Vogue magazine she will remarry in September. Here, she says hello to "Moose," a mule on ... more

Madonna Badger, left, and her friend Kate Askew, right, talk in Askew's print shop, Yella Dog Press, in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. Badger has been living in Little Rock since she moved in with Askew following 2011's Christmas Day fire in Badger's Shippan home which killed her three daughters and parents. less

Madonna Badger, left, and her friend Kate Askew, right, talk in Askew's print shop, Yella Dog Press, in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. Badger has been living in Little Rock since she moved ... more

Sitting in her friend's print shop in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012, Madonna Badger talks about her life after a fire in her Shippan home claimed the lives of her three children and her parents on Christmas day, 2011. less

Sitting in her friend's print shop in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012, Madonna Badger talks about her life after a fire in her Shippan home claimed the lives of her three children and her parents on ... more

Posters made by Madonna Badger and Kate Askew sit to dry in Askew's print shop, Yella Dog Press, in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. The posters read, "Love is the answer. What is the question?" less

Posters made by Madonna Badger and Kate Askew sit to dry in Askew's print shop, Yella Dog Press, in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. The posters read, "Love is the answer. What is the ... more

Sitting at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012, Madonna Badger talks about her life after a fire in her Shippan home claimed the lives of her three children and her parents on Christmas day, 2011. less

Sitting at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012, Madonna Badger talks about her life after a fire in her Shippan home claimed the lives of her three children and her ... more

Madonna Badger, left, talks with Kate Askew, center, and Jess Askew, right, on Sunday, December 2, 2012, as they reminice about Badger's time living in Little Rock, Arkansas. Badger moved in with the Askew family after her three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011. less

Madonna Badger, left, talks with Kate Askew, center, and Jess Askew, right, on Sunday, December 2, 2012, as they reminice about Badger's time living in Little Rock, Arkansas. Badger moved in with the Askew ... more

Madonna Badger talks with friends in the living room of the house she is renting in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012. Badger's three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011. less

Madonna Badger talks with friends in the living room of the house she is renting in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012. Badger's three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her ... more

Madonna Badger talks with friends in the living room of the house she is renting in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012. Badger's three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her Shippan home in 2011. less

Madonna Badger talks with friends in the living room of the house she is renting in Little Rock, Arkansas, on December 2, 2012. Badger's three daughters and parents were killed in a Christmas day fire in her ... more

Madonna Badger drives through Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. Badger moved to Little Rock to live with her friend Kate Askew after Badger's parents and three daughters died in a fire in her Shippan home on Christmas morning, 2011. less

Madonna Badger drives through Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday, December 2, 2012. Badger moved to Little Rock to live with her friend Kate Askew after Badger's parents and three daughters died in a fire in her ... more

STAMFORD -- As the two-year anniversary of the Christmas Day inferno that killed her three young daughters and both her parents approaches, Madonna Badger revealed she is engaged to be married next year.

In a personal essay to be published in Vogue magazine's December issue, Badger details her ongoing recovery and grief from the last time she put her three girls -- Lily, 9, and 7-year-old twins Sarah and Grace -- to bed following a reading of Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" to her plans to marry college friend and New York real estate broker Bill Duke.

Duke was among the first to come to Badger's bedside at Stamford Hospital following the deadly fire that ripped through the 116-year-old Victorian home at the foot of Shippan Point.

The 2267 Shippan Ave. house was nearing the completion of an intensive, yearlong renovation at the time of the fire. The official cause of the blaze was placed on a bag of embers from the fireplace that had been put in the mud room.

Badger has questioned the official report and cited other possible causes such as a possible electrical surge or malfunctioning electric meter. The actual cause may never be known since the city tore down the house a day after the fire without Badger's permission, obliterating any evidence and removing all of her belongings. She has filed a lawsuit against the city for unspecified damages.

In her nearly 3,400-word essay "The Long Road Back: How to Keep Going After the Unimaginable Happens," Badger recounted her deep depression and treatment at Silver Hill psychiatric hospital in New Canaan and then her nearly yearlong path to recovery with friends in Little Rock, Ark., working with rare books and antiques.

It was a job that she said saved her life.

"I came to understand and be at peace with the notion that the people in the pictures I was looking at were all gone now -- that the little girl in 1905 who owned the doll I was holding in my hands was dead; that all this stuff was really just the ephemera that gets left behind," Badger said. "There was really no judgment about it."

Badger said going back to work at the New York advertising and branding firm she helped found was difficult, but helped in her recovery.

Despite the loss of her daughters and parents, Badger said she is still a mother and daughter of her parents and is working to honor them by not giving up.

Badger traveled to Thailand to escape the pain of the Christmas season last year and said working in an orphanage for girls who had been abandoned or abused "broke me open in a way I still can't fully explain."

Badger plans to volunteer with her new fiance again this Christmas to help children in need. She did not specify where she planned to help and did not return a request for comment for this story.

In her essay, she said volunteering has helped ease a pain that "is just so huge that sometimes it feels like a prison cell."

Badger said she has found some peace after finally finding a place to bury the ashes of her daughters.

"At a certain point, you can either be full of hate or full of love -- it can go either way." Badger said. "I have no hate in my heart, no bitterness, and I am blessed by this."

To read Madonna Badger's full essay, go to Vogue.com or pick up the December issue on newsstands.